Though one of America's greatest orators of the time, Edward Everett, gave a grand speech at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg, it was Abraham Lincoln's brief address, consisting of only 272 words, that will forever be remembered.

In August, 1776, 400 Marylander s of the “Dandy 5th” Regiment fought bravely to hold the American line in Brooklyn Heights, New York, while George Washington and his troops beat a hasty retreat after a disastrous encounter with the British.

After meeting at the Battle of Monacacy and surviving the Civil War, Union General Lew Wallace and Confederate General Jubal Early went on to influence popular culture, albeit in rather different ways.

In May, 1861, in the wake of the Pratt Street Riots, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney issued a writ of habeas corpus for John Merryman, who had been imprisoned at Fort McHenry for his actions preventing the movement of Federal troops into Maryland. The decision became known as "Ex Parte Merryman," and was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1866.